Rockets beat Caldwell
Rocket sophomore guard Tim Hill recorded a varsity career high
last Friday night pouring in 29 points to help his team upend
Caldwell County 69-57 at Princeton while staying unbeaten in Fifth
District play.
Hill, who had amassed a career high with 26 in a win over Greenwood
at the Daviess County Holiday Tournament only a week earlier,
wasted little time in burning the Tigers from the perimeter.
After the visitors trailed 14-13 at the end of a nip-and-tuck
first quarter, Hill scored 14 of his squad's 21 second quarter
points to help them gain a lead they would never relinquish the
rest of the contest.
While Tiger Josh Landacre had a big night also tallying 29 points,
he did not get much offensive support from his teammates as no
one else scored more than eight. Conversely, Rocket center Zack
Beverly added 13, and Payton Croft had 10 to help support the
huge effort from Hill.
Defensively, Rocket coach Jimmy Croft took the approach that he
was not going to allow one Tiger player the opportunity to upend
his team.
It turned out to be the right approach as the sticky Rocket man-to-man
defense limited the rest of the Caldwell lineup to a combined
28 points.
While maintaining a double-digit lead for almost all of the third
quarter, Landacre connected on a trey with :04 ticks left in the
frame to whittle the deficit to 52-42 heading into the final period.
However, the poised Rockets went on a 6-1 spurt over the next
1:53 to claim a comfortable 58-43 advantage.
The Rocket coach was also happy with the performance of reserve
sophomore forward Brad Hart, who done a tremendous job on the
defensive end of the floor while also pitching in with seven points.
Crittenden also continued to do a good job at the charity stripe
connecting on 14-of-19 for a very fine 73.6% to help keep the
Tigers at a distance.
Tiger coach Greg McQueary was very impressed with the performance
of Hill, who helped lead the Rockets to the key league road win.
While he was pleased with his club's play during the first quarter,
he credited the veteran laden Rockets for getting things together
and doing what they had to do for the win.